PRINCE GEORGE – On Sunday, October 29 at around 3:00 p.m., a bear was shot and killed in the Pine Centre Mall parking lot by an RCMP officer.
The RCMP officer was at the mall for a separate, unrelated case, but was told by a community member about the bear.
“The police officer approached the bear and tried to get it to move out of the parking lot and away from people by using his police vehicle and the lights and sirens. Unfortunately, the bear has become too accustomed to being around people and was not scared away from the densely populated area,” Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said.
Cooper added the officer conducted a risk assessment prior to safely dispatching the bear.
B.C Conservation Officer Sgt. Eamon McArthur said the situation was unfortunate, but sometimes action like that is necessary for the safety of the community. While he believes the circumstances warranted the shooting, McArthur regrets that the bear was in the parking lot to begin with. He says there are many things the community can and should do to prevent bears from staying in the city.
“Weve been running ourself ragged over this year trying to get people to manage garbage, manage fruit trees, manage everything that a bear could consider as an attractant, and without that level of interest by the public to manage those attractants, there is a good chance that a bear could become a food habituated bear,” McArthur said.
McArthur explained bears stay in the city when they know food is available, so if people make food unavailable bears would have no reason to stay. Other steps you can take would be taking extra-smelly garbage to the landfill rather than leave it in the bin, and if you have a fruit tree be sure to pick the fruits so bears won’t find it.
